Rabbi's Blog

So many in Israel and around the world are waiting with bated breath for the 33 hostages, slated to be released in this long awaited deal, to emerge, not knowing how many of them are even alive.  It is unimaginable what these hostages have been through and the pain and anguish of their families during these 15 months is excruciating.  Although it is very hopeful that the first steps of this deal and the initial return will go through, the agreement is imperfect and we just don’t know what will happen beyond this first stage.

This Shabbat, as we begin Shemot/Exodus, the second book of the Torah with the narratives of tyranny, oppression, slavery, civil disobedience, calls to action and ultimate liberation, it is the 52nd yahrzeit of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the weekend where we celebrate the birthday and legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Junior.  As many of you know, these two moral and spiritual giants were close and learned from each other.  Heschel’s daughter Dr. Susannah Heschel told me once that there was always a volume of Hassidut (profound spiritual wisdom and insights) and a copy of The New York Times by her father’s bedside.  He was deeply connected to both worlds and, as an activist, he marched from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 next to Dr. King, and famously wrote, “Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying.”  Rev. King said:

"when our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a great benign Power in the universe whose name is God, who is able to make a way out of no way, and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. This is our hope for becoming better people. This is our mandate for seeking to make a better world."

There is always something moving and profound about the confluence of Rabbi Heschel’s yahrzeit and Rev. King’s birthday, who both so wanted to make a better world for us all. The timing always coincides with the beginning of the Book of Exodus too, in which we read the heroic story of Shifra and Puah, the midwives to the Israelite women who stood up against Pharoah’s tyrannous decree to murder the male Hebrew babies.  Their moral courage is the first act of civil disobedience and inspires us to stand up for what is right and just in this increasingly painful and complex world, praying with our hearts, our souls, our hands and our feet.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel also wrote in a very powerful essay called “On Prayer,” “Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehood. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy the promise, the hope, and the vision.”

Most of us do not have a perfect balance between our spiritual lives of ritual and prayer and our lives as activists, as both Heschel and King and perhaps those midwives did (the Torah says they had awe of God). The world calls each of us in our own way at this time like Moses at the burning bush, called to save his people.  We are distracted and confused and often cannot see or hear the call, but the legacies of the rabbi and the preacher can help inspire us to show up and stand up.

May we see not just 33 but all 98 remaining hostages freed from the tunnels in Gaza and an end to the violence, tyranny, hatred and destruction.  Everywhere.

May the memory of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel be a blessing and a source of inspiration!
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Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Marc